The latest DREAM event took place today at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

However, the event, “DREAM: Fight for Japan,” didn’t air live in Japan or in the U.S. (HDNet airs a taped version of the event on June 3.)

However, according to DREAM’s official website, Shinya Aoki tapped out fellow lightweight Rich Clementi, and both Masakazu Imanari and Hideo Tokoro won two fights to advance to the finale of the Japan bantamweight grand prix.

Aoki (28-5 MMA, 12-2 DREAM) used a neck crank to submit Clementi (40-20-1 MMA, 0-1 DREAM) at the 2:17 mark of the second round. The UFC veteran took the fight with Aoki on just 10 days’ notice after planned bouts with Antonio McKee, Jamie Varner and Shane Nelson failed to materialize.

Aoki, whose DREAM lightweight title wasn’t on the line, now has won five straight fights and eight of his past nine. Six of those victories have come via submission, and the lone loss came in an early-2010 title loss to Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez.

With a pair of victories each, Imanari (23-8-2 MMA, 3-1 DREAM) and Tokoro (29-23-1 MMA, 7-6 DREAM), meanwhile, now meet later this year in the finale of the eight-man Japan tournament. Both fighters, as well as the winner of a third-place bout between Kenji Osawa (17-10-2 MMA, 2-1 DREAM) and Atsushi Yamamoto (15-7-1 MMA, 2-2 DREAM), gain entry into a world bantamweight tourney planned for late 2011 or early 2012.

Notables Katsunori Kikuno, Caol Uno, Takeshi Inoue and Joachim Hansen also picked up victories at DREAM.17, which served as a fundraiser following the earthquakes and tsunami that ravaged the country. Officials, though, haven’t determined how much money will go to charity.

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